Translusense clear keyboard eyes-on

You might have forgotten about this guy. It's been over a year since Jason Giddings put his clear keyboard concept up on Kickstarter. Well, the infrared-based touch board may not have found enough backers to get off the ground, but some other investors saw potential and now Translusense is making its way towards a reality. The company wasn't quite ready to show off working prototype at CES -- there's still a number of issues to work out with the firmware. But we were able to get a glimpse of what the final hardware will look like. The main platform is a relatively thick piece of glass with a surprisingly pleasant curve, while the base is a heavy chunk of plastic and metal. The smooth surface feels nice, but we are concerned about the effect it'll have on our touch typing skills.

The keyboard actually starts completely blank. The "keys" you see above are actually a print out that is laid over the glass and can be peeled off, replaced or customized with a piece of software. This will allow users to create custom layouts specifically for use with games or applications like Photoshop. Unfortunately, Translusense hasn't escaped vaporware status just yet. While we did see what appears to be a nearly production-ready piece of hardware there are still many software issues to work out. To see what this piece of science fiction (nearly) come to life looks like from a few different angles hit up the gallery below.